Lawmakers from Minnehaha County are at odds over whether immigrants here illegally should be able to attend public universities.

A bill making its way through the state legislature would require the Board of Regents to verify citizenship or legal status for all students and bar scholarships and financial aid to violators of federal immigration laws.

The bill comes on the heels of calls from University of South Dakota Student Government leaders to establish the university as a “sanctuary campus.”

District 10 Rep. Steven Haugaard (R-Sioux Falls) and District 25 Reps. Tom Pischke (R-Dell Rapids) and Dan Ahlers (D-Dell Rapids) said Saturday during a Legislative forum at Bethany Meadows in Brandon they’re not likely to be on the same side of the roll call board when they’re asked to cast their votes on Senate Bill 103.

In support, Pischke, a co-sponsor on the bill, said the drawbacks to allowing immigrants here illegally to use the public-school system are two-fold: It’s a burden on state resources, and it creates more competition in the workforce for Americans.

“We’re letting people here illegally to get an education through our public-school system and it’s your tax dollars and my tax dollars that are subsidizing that education,” the Dell Rapids. “And then they’re competing in the job market with our kids, who are citizens of the United States.”

Sponsors of the bill have said it’s meant to ensure that South Dakota and entities are adhering to federal immigration laws, which bar the harboring of immigrants here illegally.

"It's simply a statement that says we're not a sanctuary state," Haugaard said. "If you are here illegally, you are here illegally."

But Ahlers said he doesn’t think keeping undocumented immigrants from attending school is fair, at least not those who were brought here as children.

“The question for me becomes ‘are you an illegal immigrant because you came here on your own free will or because your parents brought you here,’’ he said. “If you’ve got individuals who are here, participating and are productive and here at no fault of their own, I don’t think you should be denied the opportunity for college education.”